Genre | Serial drama |
---|---|
Running time | played twice daily |
Country of origin | Australia |
Language(s) | English |
Syndicates | ABC |
Starring | Vivean Edwards, Ailsa Graham, Jane Holland |
Created by | Gwen Meredith |
Written by | Gwen Meredith |
Original release | February 21, 1944 – February 25, 1949 |
No. of episodes | 1,299 [1] |
The Lawsons was an Australian radio serial broadcast by the ABC and created and written by Gwen Meredith that ran daily from 21 February 1944 to 25 february 1949. It was a forerunner to the better known Blue Hills . [2] [3] The show began as a propaganda series to introduce modern farming methods. [4] Merredith researched it at a station near Gunnedah. [5] The serial was hugely popular immediately and ran for five years. [6] Meredith adapted the series into a play and a novel. [7]
The adventures of the Lawson family who live on a farm. Mr. and Mrs. Lawson, Sue and Jean and there four boys Wally, Chris, Ted and Brian, Described as the typical Australian country folk, they raise sheep and poultry and grow wheat and vegetables, but are not as burlesque as Dad and Dave or Doreen and Ginger Mick. [8]
Character | Actor |
Mr. Lawson | Vivean Edwards |
Mrs. Ellen Lawson | Ailsa Grahame |
Sue Lawson | Jane Holland |
Don McKenzie | Jerry Weil |
Chris | Hal Lashwood |
Ruth | Marie Rosenfeld |
Max Ralston | George Randall |
Joe | Reg Collins |
Meredith wrote a stage play version of the radio serial. It toured New South Wales regional areas in 1950 with a cast including Ed Devereaux. [9] The play was presented by J.C. Williamson's Ltd. [10]
Ronald Grant Taylor was an English-Australian actor best known as the abrasive General Henderson in the Gerry Anderson science fiction series UFO and for his lead role in Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940).
Blue Hills, created and written by Gwen Meredith, is an Australian radio serial about the lives of families, set in a fictional typical Australian country town called Tanimbla. The title "Blue Hills" itself derives from the residence of Dr. Gordon, the town's doctor.
Gwenyth Valmai Meredith OBE, also known by her married name Gwen Harrison, was an Australian writer, dramatist and playwright, and radio writer. She is best known for her radio serials The Lawsons (1944–1949) and the longer-running Blue Hills (1949–1976).
Ethel Muriel Ashton, known professionally as Queenie Ashton, was a character actress, born in England, who had a long career in Australia as a theatre performer and radio personality, best known for her radio and television soap opera roles, although she did also feature briefly in films.
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The Pathway to the Sun is a 1949 novel by Australian author E. V. Timms. It was the second in his Great South Land Saga of historical novels.
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Maiva Drummond was an Australian actress of stage and radio, known for her part in the long-running ABC radio serial she starred as Jean Lawson in radio serial The Lawsons in the late 1940s and its longer running successor series Blue Hills as Rose Bishop, from 1949 until 1976, both series written by Gwen Meredith
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